Seamless reinforcement for rubber composition and products incorporating such material

ABSTRACT

Rubber composites, for example pneumatic tipes, can be made using seamless, tubular reinforcement ( 14 ). By pulling socks of seamless tubular reinforcement over, for example, a tire building drum ( 10 ), spliceless carcass reinforcement ( 18 ) and spliceless belts ( 64 ) can be incorporated into tires. Methods of treating the spliceless tubular material, by drawing and by adhesive coating, enhance its strength and adhesion to rubber.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to a method of making components for laminatedrubber products such as tires, and tire components and tires made bysaid method.

BACKGROUND ART

In the conventional method of making tires sized for use on passengercars, light trucks and trucks, gum rubber plies and composite plies arelaid up in sequence on a building drum and shaped into a tire. Prior tothe building of the tire, reinforced composite plies such as carcassplies and belt plies are calendered to encase reinforcing cords in theply rubber, and in some applications, belt packages are preassembled ona belt building drum. This procedure involves many interrelated stepsand requires an inventory of each component and consequent warehousingof each component.

In addition, conventional preassembled tire components, by definition,have inherent boundaries, such as ply ends, belt edges, etc. that mustbe spliced, or in the case of belt edges, must be encased in rubber orother special components, to help prevent separation from othercomponents in the tire.

It is a continuing goal in the art to reduce the number of steps inbuilding a tire and to reduce the inventory of component parts that mustbe maintained. In the present invention this goal is accomplished, andin addition, carcass splices are eliminated, and in some embodimentsbelt edges are eliminated, as are additional components that aresometimes used to protect belt edges.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method for building a pneumatic tire comprises the steps of (a) layingup tire components on a tire building drum up to the point before acarcass ply is laid down on the building drum, (b) pulling a full sockof seamless netting material over and in surrounding relationship to thedrum and previously applied tire components, and (c) continuing to builda tire without the addition of a carcass ply. The method may furthercomprise the step of pulling additional layers of belt width socks ofseamless netting material over the full sock and locating the belt widthsocks so as to form belts in a shaped tire.

The method may comprise the further additional step of preparing theseamless netting material by dipping the material in an adhesive.

The netting material may be prepared to have 5 to 40 epi cords orfilaments in a nominal warp direction and 5 to 40 epi cords or filamentsin a nominal weft direction.

The netting material may be selected from the group consisting ofpolyamide, aromatic polyamide, polyester, polyolefin, steel filaments,steel cords, brass coated steel cords or filaments, and mixturesthereof.

Also included in the invention is a pneumatic tire comprising at least apair of parallel annular beads, a sock of seamless netting materialwrapped around said beads, an unreinforced inner liner disposed radiallyinwardly of the seamless netting material, tread rubber disposedradially outward of the netting material in a crown area of the tire,and sidewalls disposed between the tread and the beads. Beltreinforcement may be disposed in the tire between the seamless nettingmaterial and the tread.

Also provided is a tire carcass comprising at least a pair of parallelannular beads, a sock of seamless netting material wrapped around thebeads, an unreinforced inner liner disposed radially inwardly of theseamless netting material, gum rubber disposed radially outward of thenetting material, and sidewalls disposed adjacent to the beads.

Also provided is a tire carcass comprising at least a pair of parallelannular beads, a sock of seamless netting material wrapped around thebeads, an unreinforced inner liner disposed radially inwardly of theseamless netting material, gum rubber disposed radially outward of thenetting material, tread rubber disposed over the gum rubber in a crownarea of the tire, and sidewalls disposed between the crown area and thebeads.

Also provided is a method for building a pneumatic tire comprising thesteps of (a) placing an inner liner and other optional gum components ona tire building drum, (b) pulling a sock of seamless netting materialover and in surrounding relationship to the drum and previously appliedtire components, (c) covering or coating the seamless netting materialwith at least one additional layer of rubber, (d) setting beads over theadditional rubber layer on the tire building drum, and (e) covering thebeads and the additional rubber layer with at least one further layer ofgum rubber to form a first stage carcass. The method may comprise thefurther step of adding tread rubber to said first stage carcass on thetire building drum.

Additional steps may include expanding said first stage carcass tocontact a preformed belt package and tread or expanding the first stagecarcass in a tire mold and curing a tire.

Also provided is a tubular netting material comprising interwoven orinterlocked thermoset polymer filaments or cords wherein the nettingforms a seamless woven structure having nominal warp and weft filamentswherein the filaments having a round, oblong, trapezoidal, flat crosssection shape, wherein the filaments form at least one regular patternin the tubular material throughout its length, and wherein saidfilaments/cords are coated with an adhesive material. In one embodimentthe tubular netting material may have a greater number of nominal warpfilaments than the number of nominal weft filaments.

Also provided is an apparatus for making tubular netting materialcomprising an extruder having a die with inner and outer counterrotating circular heads, orifices in said heads being shaped to providerobust filaments in at least one dimension when molten material isextruded through the heads, and means for varying the speed of rotationof the inner and outer heads. The apparatus may include means forcoating filaments/cords of the netting with an adhesive and means fordrawing the tubular material to elongate the tubular material 200% to1000% along its primary axis.

Also provided is a method for forming a tubular material comprising thesteps of (a) extruding a molten polymeric material through counterrotating inner and outer circular dies forming polymeric filaments whichcross over each other in at least a portion of the extrusion, (b)cooling the filaments to thermoset the polymer and fuse cross overjunctions between the filaments, and (c) drawing the tubular material toelongate the tube of netting material 200% to 1000% along its primaryaxis. The method may further comprise the step of coating the filamentswith an adhesive before drawing said tubular material. The method mayinclude the steps of obtaining dies with various orifice diameters andshapes, and changing dies based on the filament size and strengthdesired and varying the rotation speed of the inner and outer circulardies to be the same or different, faster or slower, or variable,depending on the extrusion pattern desired or stopping the rotation ofsaid dies for a portion of said extrusion.

DEFINITIONS

“Apex” refers to an elastomeric wedge of material placed next to a beadto provide a smooth transition for a carcass ply turn up and to minimizeflexing around the bead.

“Bead” means that part of the tire comprising an annular tensile memberwrapped by ply cords and shaped, with or without other reinforcementelements such as flippers, chippers, apexes, toe guards and chafers, tofit the design rim.

“Belt” refers to a layer of parallel reinforcing cords, woven or unwovenand embedded in an elastomeric material, unanchored to the bead, andwhen two or more belts are assembled into a “Belt Package” or “BeltStructure”, the package or structure has cord angles of 17 to 27 degreeswith respect to the equatorial plane of the tire.

“Bias Ply” refers to a carcass with reinforcing cords extendingdiagonally from bead core to bead core at about 25 to 50 degrees withrespect to the equatorial plane of the tire. When more than one carcassply is used in a tire, reinforcement cords usually run at oppositeangles in adjacent plies.

“Building Drum” refers to a cylindrical device on which shapelessmaterial is applied (such as elastomeric tire components) to establishtheir relationship to one another and to make possible handling of theassembled components for shaping.

“Carcass” means the tire structure apart from the belt structure, tread,undertread, and sidewall rubber over the plies, but including the beads.

“Chafer” refers to a narrow strip of material placed around the outsideof the bead to protect cord plies from the rim, distribute flexing abovethe rim, and to seal the tire with the rim.

“Cord” refers to a plurality of filaments or yarns twisted together toform a single string or reinforcement element.

“Crown” refers to the circumferentially outermost portion of the carcasssubstantially within the width limits of the tread.

“Equatorial plane (EP)” means the plane perpendicular to the tire's axisof rotation and passing through the center of its tread.

“Filament” refers to a single strand or tow of yam. Sometimes referredto as a cord ply.

“First Stage Carcass” refers to a cylindrical carcass (non expanded)including all its component parts and standing alone apart from a tire.

“Second Stage Carcass” refers to an expanded carcass including all ofits component parts but standing alone from a tire.

“Inner Liner” refers to a layer or layers of elastomer (usuallyhalobutyl rubber) that form the inside surface of a tubeless tire andthat contains the inflating fluid within the tire.

“Pantographing” refers to the changing of the angles betweenreinforcement cords when a tire or carcass construction is expanded asit is shaped into a torus.

“Pneumatic tire” means a laminated mechanical device of generallytoroidal shape (usually an open-torus) having beads and a tread and madeof rubber, chemicals, fabric and steel or other materials. When mountedon the wheel of a motor vehicle, the tire through its tread providestraction and contains the fluid that sustains the vehicle load.

“Radial” and “radially” are used to mean directions radially toward oraway from the axis of rotation of the tire.

“Shoulder” refers to the upper portion of sidewall just below the treadedge.

“Sidewall” means that portion of a tire between the tread and the bead.

“Splice” refers to the overlapping or abutting of ply ends when the plyis deployed into a circular shape.

“Tread” means a molded rubber component which, when bonded to a tirecasing, includes that portion of the tire that comes into contact withthe road when the tire is normally inflated and under normal load.

“Tread width” means the arc length of the road contacting tread surfacein the axial direction, that is., in a plane parallel to the axis ofrotation of the tire.

“Turn up ply” refers to an end of a carcass ply that wraps around onebead only.

“Wedge” refers to elastomeric material that is placed between the edgesor above the edges of belts in a belt package to help flatten the crownarea of the tire.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a sock of reinforcing netting material being pulledonto a building drum over gum rubber inner liners, optional chafers andother tire components.

FIG. 2 illustrates a building drum where beads have been applied overrubber placed on the reinforcing netting material.

FIG. 2a illustrates a first stage carcass of the invention withsidewalls.

FIG. 2b illustrates a first stage carcass with tread and sidewalls.

FIG. 3 illustrates an expanded second stage carcass.

FIG. 3a illustrates the expanded carcass with the addition of other tirecomponents.

FIG. 3b illustrates an expanded carcass with alternative additionalcomponents.

FIG. 4 illustrates application of a tread on expanded tire components.

FIG. 5 illustrates an alternative netting material on a building drum.

FIG. 5a illustrates alternative netting material covered by a rubbersheet on a building drum with the addition of beads.

FIG. 5b illustrates expanded tire components including alternativenetting material on a building drum.

FIG. 5c illustrates a second stage carcass of the invention.

FIG. 5d illustrates a second stage carcass including tread rubber.

FIG. 5e illustrates an unvulcanized tire with netting material used forreinforcing plies.

FIG. 5f illustrates equipment used in the process for making variousdesigns of netting material of the invention.

FIG. 5g illustrates alternative netting material made for toereinforcement when the spacing of the orifices on the inner and outerpart of the extruder head are not evenly spaced.

FIG. 5h illustrates radial portion filaments of alternative nettingmaterial where a small bias angle exists between the cords.

FIG. 5i illustrates alternative netting material for crown reinforcementmade when the spacing of the orifices on the inner and outer part of theextruder head are not evenly spaced.

FIG. 5j illustrates filaments that are extruded at variable rates.

FIG. 5k illustrates a portion of extruded netting material havingseveral netting patterns.

FIG. 6 illustrates a tire of the invention made using interlocked socknetting material to replace the carcass ply and the belts.

FIG. 6a illustrates a tire of the invention made using sock nettingmaterial as the ply reinforcement material and conventional belts.

FIG. 6b illustrates a tire of the invention made using interlocked socknetting material as the ply reinforcement material and the beltmaterial.

FIG. 7 illustrates pantographing of netting material on a toroidal tire.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference now to FIG. 1, a building drum 10 is used in theconstruction of a tire wherein at least one gum layer 12, and optionallyother components are applied to the building drum using techniques knownin the art. At the point in the construction of a conventional tirewhere a composite carcass ply would be applied to the building drum, asock 14 of interlinked polymer filaments (netting) is pulled over thedrum and the previously applied gum components from one side of drum 10.As used herein, “Sock” refers to a tubular, spliceless fabric nettingcomprised of nominal warp and nominal weft cords or filaments. By“nominal warp” and “nominal weft” it is meant that the filaments are ata opposed angles to each other and this designation is used because thefilaments are not warp and weft filaments in the conventional sensesince the nominal warp filaments and the nominal weft filaments, in mostcases, will have the same physical characteristics, and in many casesneither filament will be oriented in the linear or machine direction ofthe fabric.

In an illustrated embodiment, nominal warp filaments 16 and nominal weftfilaments 18 in sock 14 are fused at their points of intersection 19.Filaments 16 and 18 may be made of thermoplastic polymeric material.Examples of suitable thermoplastic materials may be selected from thegroup consisting of nylon, polyalkylene, and polyester and mixturesthereof.

To distinguish such fused filament netting from woven or knittedstructures described below, such polymer netting is sometimes referredto herein as “mesh netting”.

The mesh netting is made by simultaneously extruding nominal warp andnominal weft molten filaments of thermoplastic material wherein theopposed molten streams cross and are fused together when theirtemperature drops below their melting point. Netting made by suchprocesses are available from Applied Extrusion Technologies, 96Swampscott Road, Salem, Mass.; Conweb Plastics, 2640, Patton Rd,Rockville, Md. 55113; NSW Corporation, a division of Siemans, 530Gregory Ave., Roanoke, Va. 24016; and various other suppliers.

The end count, ends per inch (epi) of the mesh netting material as wellas the diameter and cross sectional shape of each filament can becontrolled by the number, shape and spacing of the holes and the size ofthe holes in the extruder dies.

In an alternative embodiment, interlinked netting material may beknitted or woven, using any twisted or untwisted fabric or wire cord orcable. Interlinked netting can be made having warp and weftrelationships similar to fused polymer netting described above, exceptthat intersections of the warp and weft filaments are not fused, and thewarp and weft are moveable relative to each other within the limitsdefined by the structure of the netting material.

The sock of netting material used for the reinforcement ply in the tireis made to have a diameter that permits the deformable sock ofreinforcement material to be easily pulled over the drum but is not soloose as to cause wrinkles when the beads and other components areapplied to the reinforcement material on the drum. In some cases thesock of netting material may be “drawn” as described below, so that itsdiameter is smaller than the building drum, but because of itsdeformability and its inherent stretchability, the netting material canbe stretched to easily fit over the building drum.

The drawing of filament materials is important to their physicalproperties as described by Causa et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,683 andart cited therein. Because of the nature of the netting structuredescribed herein, “drawing” embraces a “primary” drawing of the nettingstructure, and a “secondary” drawing of the filamentary material.

The sock of netting material may be engineered to be stretchable atleast to the diameter of a tire in which it is to be used, and may bestretchable to a diameter greater than the diameter of the tire, toprovide a balance between restriction properties required by a ply andflexibility needed for the tire to undergo normal deformation in itsuse.

With reference now to FIG. 2, after netting reinforcement material 14 isin position on building drum 10, an additional layer of rubber 21 may beapplied over the netting material, and then beads 22 are moved intoposition.

With reference to FIG. 2a, with the possible addition of optionalapexes, wedges and other components peculiar to the particular tireconstruction being made, the construction, or first stage carcass 15 canbe removed from the drum and placed in storage, or can be furtherassembled to provide a tire construction by placing the first stagecarcass in a tire mold where the carcass is expanded to contact andadhere to a preassembled belt package and tread, which are then curedtogether in the mold.

With reference to FIG. 2b, in an alternative tire construction where nobelt package is required, tread 29 can be added to the first stagecarcass on the drum before it is removed from the drum, and the firststage carcass/tread 15 a can be expanded in a tire mold and cured.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that there are other methods ofusing a first stage carcass in a tire assembly, for example, the carcasscan be expanded and adhered to a preassembled belt package and tread ina separate step before placing the preassembled green tire in the curingmold. Other methods of using the preassembly of the invention inconstructing tires will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

In an alternative method of building a tire, with reference now to FIG.3, building drum 10 may be activated to expand the tire components intothe shape of a tire, by shortening the drum and moving the beads closertogether, and using turn up bladder 27 to turn up portion 26 of the tirecomponents (see FIG. 2) that are not axially between the beads. When thetire building drum is activated in the expansion step to give the tirecomponents the shape of a tire, the netting reinforcement ply 14 willbecome tight and the filaments of the netting material will pantographto accommodate the tire shape. Because the filaments can be made to havegreat strength, and the filaments are cross connected, the tire may beconstructed without additional belt reinforcement.

Also, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, multiple layersof sock netting material may be used depending on the strengthrequirements of a particular tire.

With reference to FIGS. 3a and 3 b, sidewalls 24 and belts may be addedto the expanded tire after the expansion step. In FIG. 3a, the additionof conventional belts 62 a and 64 a is illustrated. In FIG. 3b,alternative belts 62 and 64 made from additional netting material havethe advantage that they can be cut to size in a tube, similar to thecarcass sock but having the width of a belt, and can be made spliceless.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that other techniques can beused for constructing a tire according to this method, e.g. thesidewalls can be added before the expansion step.

With reference to FIG. 4, tread 29 can be added to the construction.Addition of the tread generally denotes completion of the constructionof a green tire.

Although the orientation of the cords or filaments in the netting 14 maybe manipulated somewhat to give desired cords or filament angles in aspecific tire, generally speaking the netting 14 will act much like biasplies in that the filaments 16, 18 will pantograph when the tire isexpanded. The netting structure described naturally conforms instructure and adjusts its orientation to provide the most strength inthe tire where the most strength is apparently needed. With reference toFIG. 7 for example, when a tire incorporating the netting material isexpanded, the angles between the filaments are reduced in the directionof expansion, and nominal warp filaments and nominal weft filaments bothare pulled down toward the direction of expansion, increasing theresistance against further expansion.

The netting reinforcement described herein has the advantages that thesize of the filaments and the end count between points of fusion can becontrolled by processing to provide additional reinforcement strength asneeded. Also, the lengths of the nominal warp and weft filaments betweenpoints of fusion can be controlled in order to control how the nettingpantographs thereby controlling specific filament angle orientation.This concept can be used to force the orientation of the woven filamentsclose to what is seen in conventional radial tires.

Also, when belt reinforcement is used in the form of netting material,the filaments are in a crossing relationship and one belt size tube ofnetting material may replace two belts in a conventional tire and at thesame time eliminate at least two splices. The filaments in the belt andthe carcass pantograph without wrinkles and the bias angle of thefilaments in the sidewall eliminates bulges and valleys that arenormally associated with radial ply tires. In addition, the fusednetting in the crown area may offer puncture resistance.

With reference now to FIG. 5, in an alternative embodiment, the nettingmay be modified by controlling the flow of the filamentary materialduring extrusion to provide a reinforcement 52 that can replace thecarcass ply and the belt reinforcement and will act in substantially thesame manner as radial ply carcass reinforcement in the sidewall area ofthe tire. The modified reinforcement material 52 can be applied to thebuilding drum 10 in the same manner described above with regard toreinforcement 14.

FIG. 5a illustrates the reinforcing netting material on a tire buildingdrum covered with an additional layer of rubber 21 and with beads 22applied thereon.

FIG. 5b illustrates the orientation of the filaments of netting 52 in anexpanded tire carcass. It will be noted that modified reinforcement 52shows substantially the same orientation between the beads and the beltarea of the tire, with regard to cords 55, as a conventionalreinforcement in a radial carcass ply in a tire, and netting edges 56with bias angled orientation help reinforce the bead area of the tireand may eliminate the need for toe guards, chippers, etc. Interlockedportion 54, also with bias angled orientation, provides extrareinforcement in the crown area of a tire construction and may be usedin place of conventional belt reinforcement.

With reference to FIGS. 5c and 5 d, second stage carcasses, with andwithout tread, and made using netting 52 can be stored or built intotires in the same manner as described above regarding the first stagecarcasses of FIGS. 2a and 2 b.

FIG. 5e illustrates an optional tire construction when conventionalbelts 62 a, 64 a are used in addition to the netting reinforcement 52with belt netting 54.

With reference now to FIG. 5f, apparatus 110 can be used to prepare meshnetting material of the invention. Apparatus 110 comprises asubstantially conventional extruder 102, and dies 112. Such extrudersmay be used vertically so that gravity can be used to drive theextrudate. The extruder may be modified and used in conjunction withspray or dip units 132, 136 and heating and drying ovens 134, 138, drawdown rollers 140 and cutter 142, to prepare various modified meshnetting constructions 126 that may be used in tires of the invention,and such various constructions can be made sequentially in the same run.

As is conventional in the art, extruder 102 is used to force moltenmaterial 104 used to make the mesh netting material through die 112where the molten material 104 is pushed through orifices 122, 124 in die112. Die 112 may preferably have a diameter up to about four times thediameter of a tire, and support tube 128 may be used to support and coolthe extruded mesh netting material 126 and maintain its diameter untilthe molten material solidifies.

To assure adhesion of the netting material 126 to rubber components in atire, the extruded mesh netting material may be coated with an adhesive,for example an RFL (resorcinol formaldehyde latex) adhesive, in dip orspray unit 132, and the adhesive dried in heating unit 134. A secondapplier unit 136, and drier 138 may be used to assure complete adhesivecoverage of the netting material.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that similar coating procedurescan be used to adhesively coat interlinked netting material.

In the illustrated embodiment, gravity or rollers that may be used tocontrol the movement of the netting material through the dipping andheating units, and draw rollers 140, stretch the mesh netting 126 about4 times its original length in the machine flow direction, i.e. alongthe primary axis of the drawn tube of material, and reduce its diameterto about or less than the diameter of a tire building drum.

Optionally, a liquid elastomer may be applied to the netting 126 as analternative to applying a separate layer of rubber 21 in the tirebuilding procedure using, for example, applier unit 136 and drier 138.

The individual socks may be separated from the extrudate using cutter142.

The individual socks may be directed directly to tire buildingapparatus, or may be stored using methods that will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art. Also, the extrudate tube may be stored by moving thetube of material over a film of material that will not stick to anadhesive, and rolling up the tube of material over a second layer ofsuch film. Other methods of handling the material will be apparent tothose skilled in the art.

The use of the apparatus, and especially die 112, presents opportunitiesfor engineering physical properties of the netting for specific uses.For example, orifices 122 and 124 may be made deeper and/wider tocontrol the size and strength of the extruded filaments and the spacingand number of orifices can be changed to alter netting patterns. Inaddition the speed of rotation of the counter rotating inner die 116 andouter die 114 may be altered to have slower or faster speeds, same ordifferent speeds, or variable speeds to create individual patterns forspecific uses.

FIGS. 5g-5 j illustrate possible patterns that may be developed in thenetting material by changing the spacing of the inner and outer orificesrelative to each other (5 g, 5 i) or rotating the inner and outer dies114, 116 at different speeds, by slowing the dies to very low speed ((5h), as opposed to stopping the dies where parallel filaments 55 will beobtained), and by rotating the dies at variable speeds (5 j). Otherpossible modifications of the netting pattern will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art based on desired engineered properties.

With reference to FIGS. 5f and 5 k, the netting is extrudedcontinuously, and in one embodiment of the invention, different nettingpatterns can be developed in the same continues extrusion for differenttires or for different areas of the same tire.

In the alternative embodiment where liquid elastomer is not used, duringthe expansion step and during cure of the green tire, there issubstantial rubber flow into the spaces of the netting material whichcauses rubber to surround the filaments.

Finally, cut away views of alternative embodiments of completed tiresare illustrated in FIGS. 6, 6 a and 6 b. FIG. 6 illustrates a tire madeusing netting carcass reinforcement without additional beltreinforcement. In FIG. 6a, a tire is illustrated having nettingreinforcement 14 and conventional belts 62 a, 64 a. FIG. 6b illustratesan embodiment comprising a reinforcement netting 14 in place of acarcass ply and reinforcement netting 62, 64 in place of conventionalbelts. Netting reinforcement 14 is wrapped around beads 22, and tread 29is disposed radially above netting belt reinforcement 62 in a crown areaof the tire, and sidewalls 24 are disposed between the tread and thebeads.

While the invention has been specifically illustrated and described,those skilled in this art will recognize that the invention can bevariously modified and practiced within the limits of the claims. Thelimits of the invention are defined only by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A pneumatic tire comprising at least a pair ofparallel annular beads (22), a carcass reinforcement wrapped around saidbeads, an unreinforced gum rubber inner liner (12) disposed radiallyinwardly of said carcass reinforcement, tread rubber (29) disposedradially outward of said carcass reinforcement in a crown area of thetire, and sidewalls (24) disposed between said tread (29) and said beads(22), wherein said carcass reinforcement comprises a first sock (14, 52)of seamless mesh netting material formed from nominal warp filaments(16) and nominal weft filaments (18) of thermoplastic material which arefused at their intersections (19) and the first sock (14, 52) has bothan interlocked filament portion (54) and a linear filament portion, theinterlocked filament portion (54) being located near each respectivebead and in the crown area of the tire, the linear filament portionbeing located in each respective sidewall of the tire.
 2. The tire ofclaim 1 characterized in that a belt reinforcement (62,64) is disposedbetween said carcass reinforcement and said tread (29), the beltreinforcement (62, 64) being at least one belt width sock formed fromnominal warp and nominal weft molten filaments of thermoplastic materialbeing fused together at their intersections (19).
 3. A The tire of claim1 wherein said thermoplastic is selected from the group consisting ofpolyamide, aromatic polyamide, polyester, polyolefin, and mixturesthereof.
 4. A method for building a pneumatic tire comprising the stepsof (a) laying up gum rubber tire components (12) on a tire building drum(10) up to a point before a carcass ply is to be laid down on thebuilding drum, (b) extruding a first sock (14, 52) of seamless meshnetting material formed from nominal warp and nominal weft moltenfilaments of thermoplastic material being fused together at theirintersections (19), and drawing the filaments and drawing the firstsock, c) pulling the first sock (14, 52) of seamless mesh nettingmaterial over and in surrounding relationship to the building drum (10)and previously applied gum rubber tire components (12), d) controllingthe respective molten filaments of thermoplastic material such that thefirst sock (14, 52) has an interlocked filament portion (54) and alinear filament portion, and locating the interlocked filament portionnear each respective bead and in a crown portion of the tire, andlocating the linear filament portion in each respective sidewall of thetire.
 5. The method of claim 4 further comprising the steps (e)extruding at least one belt width sock formed from nominal warp andnominal weft molten filaments of thermoplastic material being fusedtogether at their intersections (19), (f) pulling the respective beltwidth socks over the first sock (14, 52), and (g) locating therespective belt width socks in a position to form belts (62,64) in ashaped tire.
 6. The method of claim 4 comprising the further steps of(e) selecting said seamless mesh netting material from the groupconsisting of polyamide, aromatic polyamide, polyester polyolefin, andmixtures thereof, and (f) drawing said first sock (14, 52) of seamlessmesh netting material so that its diameter is less than the diameter ofbuilding drum (10).